Abrams tanks, like any other tanks, didn’t fare well against drones in a real battlefield and have been pulled back from Ukrainian frontlines. A lesson for U.S. military planners, too. apnews.com/article/ukrain…

Ugh.⁩
Another big Congressional aid package for Ukraine is unlikely, 🇺🇦 forces probably won’t be ready for a large-scale counteroffensive in 2025 & West will struggle to supply weapons in necessary quantities. Sobering from ⁦⁦Eugene Rumer⁩ carnegieendowment.org/2024/04/25/u.s…

This is what Shoigu's arrested deputy Timur Ivanov's estate in the Tver region looks like - eight hectares on the banks of the Volga River, with a pink tea hall, billiard room, fountains, and everything else.

Modern Russia is still the same tsarism, nobles, and serfs.

If you look through the list of things that the USA are going to send Ukraine as part of the new $61 billion package you will note the absence of patriot missiles & of tanks, which were supposed to be a game changer and have been withdrawn from the battlefield, and the F-16s has…

So the euphoria from the $61 billion aid package has worn off pretty quickly hasn’t it?

Have you noticed that there is an increasing number of articles talking about “ceasefire“, “defeats“, “the war is not going very well“, And so on.

Bring this war to end sooner rather than…

«Driven by Putin’s whims and delusions, the system is liable to commit self-defeating blunders. For that reason, it is at permanent risk of crumbling overnight, as its Soviet predecessor did.»
Beautiful essay in Foreign Affairs by my colleague Maksim Samorukov. foreignaffairs.com/russian-federa…

Once again thinking about the guy whose fathers-in-law were Frank Lloyd Wright and Josef Stalin

What prompted Marjorie Taylor Greene's sudden interest in 'Hungarian minorities' in Ukraine?

I'll tell you..

1. Just before the 2022 invasion, Putin met with Orban, promising him the Transcarpathian region of Ukraine in exchange for Orban's help. Orban has subsequently…

This is very revealing.

There is now a lot of discussion about the arrest of Deputy Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Timur Ivanov on charges of bribery. This is the second person in the ministry after Shoigu. No matter how funny it may sound for Russia, yes. Precisely for bribes. But
1/12

Mediazona reports: A 20-year-old Russian woman, Alina Nevmyanova, was duped by Ukrainian fraudsters (likely secret services) out of €5,800 and then into smearing a ballot box with brilliant green during Russian elections. The Ukrainians posed as FSB officers, but now the real…

Bill Burns on State Department v CIA cultures: 'I had a bad habit the first few months [at CIA] about thinking out loud. And then I would discover at the end of that working day, there were a 14-page action plan that had been drawn up. For all I knew, aircraft were taking off'

Andrew Neil’s evidence to the Lords committee has now been viewed a million times.

Seems to resonate particularly in Canada, where about half of non-state journalism is now government-supported

the Biden administration has never seriously proposed that Ukraine can win this war. where it has been specific it has always said: 'supply Ukraine to put it into the strongest possible position for when talks eventually start'

this has been crystal clear for a long time…

“He was known as the king of kickbacks, it was an open secret in the defence ministry,” said a former defence official who worked with Ivanov. “The real question is why he was arrested now,” he added. Story on the arrest of longtime Shoigu aid Timur Ivanov
theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Both Ukraine and Russia are suffering from the same problems. Deep corruption in the military with top ranking offices helping themselves to millions of dollars.

I had dinner with Russian general who is in charge of buying gas for the army. He didn’t even try to hide it. He…

Metropolitan police deployed in full riot gear to stop a march of English people waving English flags as they celebrate St Georges Day. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Contrastingly, riot police are never seen being deployed for any of the pro-Hamas hate marches.

On paper, commercial ties between Russia and China look huge. But scratch below the surface of Russia-China trade data and you find a more nuanced picture, argues ⁦Agathe Demarais⁩
ft.com/content/4bc097…

The death of American citizen Russell “Texas” Bentley, who changed his passport to a Russian one and moved to the Donetsk region 10 years ago, is very ironic. He was killed by those whom he considered his friends and called Comrades. Soldiers of the 5th Tank Battalion, whose
1/14